It Really is a Celebration

This is one of those bittersweet moments that I am finding myself and this cake wrapped up in. You see someone that I have worked with for the last 10 years is retiring. Lets call her Aggie. Now on one hand I hate it because I can't imagine Aggie not being at the office everyday, working side by side with her on something she is so passionate about. On the other hand I am so happy for her that I could turn cartwheels. After 17 years of giving, toiling, making the best better, she now has time to enjoy the things most important to her. She can spend time with family, friends, and do the things she wants to do without a second thought. Of course when someone gives so much of themselves it is imperative that you throw one humdinger of a celebration. For Aggie, humdinger doesn't quite cover it. As part of the celebration it was important to have just the right cake.
If you know Aggie you know that there is a special flair that was needed for this to make it representative of her. She always says she bleeds green, so we needed to include the 4-H clover. She is also big into polka dots lately. Not conservative little dots but big, bold dots that stand up and get your attention. Aggie is also allergic to chocolate which made it that much easier to get ermine that the inside would be a butter cake. Also, if you know Aggie, you know she is all about the sparkle. this is what let me come up with a cake that represents Aggie. The cake had to feed about 100 so i knew it had to be tiered. The design was a no brainer. Black with white polka dots on the bottom, green with 4-H clovers in the middle, and white with black polka dots on the top.
I had thought about putting fireworks on top for extreme sparkle but decided the fire marshall might get me for that so I settled for some sparkle cake candles. What I didn't know was that the candles were trick candles and when I put them in it was a little late to come up with a plan B. When it was time to cut the cake the candles added a little levity to what could have been a somber moment.
Aggie made sure the first piece of cake went to her pastor, and from there it was on. We cut and served cake like it was going out of style. All in all I would say it was a wonderful celebration of Aggie's 17 year career as well as a celebration of her life to come. Happy retirement Aggie!

Sunny Peeps

One of my favorite Easter memories is guarding my peeps that were in my Easter basket from my dad, who would try to distract me and make them disappear into his stomach. Back then (okay, I admit I am getting older everyday) you could only get peeps at Easter. This made these yellow sugar covered marshmallow chicks and pink sugar covered bunnies something truly special. In the present day I saw a design for a cake on Pinterest. As you may know from previous posts I am addicted to this fantastic web site so it should be no surprise that a cake idea would come from there.
  This is a two layer butter fudge cake, which was slathered in chocolate icing.  The edges of the top of the cake is lined with chick peeps.  The inside was lined with milk chocolate chips.  From a distance the cake looks like a sunflower.  I must admit I made the cake without a function in mind, when a work event presented itself.  The cake seemed well received and what was left was gobbled up by our staff the next day.

Celebrating 25 years

One of the great things about making cakes is being able to hear peoples stories and be a part of their future memories and stories.  This cake is a prime example of that. 
25 years ago one of my coworkers got married.  Although she says it takes a lot of work on both of their parts they very much enjoy their relationship which makes what happened on their 25th wedding anniversary very understandable. After a great deal of thought they decided to renew their vows, and celebrate their union with friends and family. 
What was really neat about this celebration is that the pomp and circumstance that often surrounds weddings, was missing.  The invitation appeared on the groom's facebook page saying."I'm reenlisting.  I'm 25 years in and my lovely wife and I are going to renew our marriage vows this coming Saturday at 3 pm at Purdie's United Methodist Church on HWy 87 between Tarhell and Dublin (the bride's father's home church.)  This will be a very short, simple, informal affair, but the meaning behind it couldn't be more important.  I love my wife.  Everyone is welcome.  No RSVP's, no gifts, no dress up.  Just show up.  There probably will be a little cake and punch afterward."
Needless to say when making this cake I wanted it to be something different and special.  In talking the the bride, we needed a cake to feed 80.  In case you could not guess from the invitation this was a laid back event that would require a custom design to fit this couple for this special event.  Taking a page from their daughter I designed the cake with swirls that she had wanted on a previous birthday cake.  Since this is a silver anniversary I did try for an off white icing with sudle silver embellishments, but that did not work as I had planned.  So out popped the silver degres for the top and corners of the cake.  All in all I would say it turned out well, even though there seemed to be plenty of cake left over afterward, I think the peices were quickly taken care of.